Peter Forsberg suggests in this video that there was "no reason" for Sweden to win their 2006 Olympic round-robin game against Slovakia (which would have meant facing Canada or Russia in the quater-finals, a loss meant the Swiss)

nah. I think Zetterberg's assessment is probably more accurate - they didn't throw the game, so much as didn't try very hard. The game meant nothing to them, while it meant a great deal to Slovakia.

That being said, it would not surprise me to see that it was the case, I'm sure those sorts of strategic decisions do get made in fast and infrequent tournaments like the Olympics. If you were the Swedes and had a chance to decide your fate to face either powerhouse Canada or surprise team Switzerland, what would you do?

In tournaments there are situations where you take the foot off the pedal to save some gas for later. Having already qualified to move on they did not need to go all out. Forsberg said that these were his own thoughts and not the teams! There is nothing wrong with being strategic in tournaments IMO.

Guest4729 ( )

Posted - 12/20/2011 : 10:58:25

Wow Swedes taking a dive, imagine!

Guest8492 ( )

Posted - 12/22/2011 : 08:31:01

Anyone who doesn't think Canada would let up a little in a similar situation either has down syndrome or is just that dumb naturally.

Guest4659 ( )

Posted - 12/22/2011 : 16:57:57

Any other team in the exact same situation would have done the same thing , even Canada. I watched that game and it didn't look like they were trying to lose, agree with Z, maybe they just didn't try their best that game since they had nothing to lose.